Computer Maintenance (Electrical Workshop Practice II)

Handout

Assessment: 30%

Lab: Block C Room # U29

Time: 5 weeks

Instructor: Kinde M. (Kinde@aait.edu.et)

Objectives

Inside personal computers and PC maintenance tools (week 1)

Objective: Students will be familiar with internal components of Desktop Personal Computers.

Students will be familiar with basic pc maintenance tools

Preventive maintenance (Week 2)

Objective: Students will learn how to prevent system failure using backup techniques, antivirus,
firewall, system tools etc.

Assemble your own PC (Week 3)

Objective: Students will be able to assemble a standard desktop PC and deal with BIOS
configuration.

Computer maintenance / troubleshooting (Week 4)

Objective: Students will be familiar with types of PC failures and troubleshooting techniques

Computer network basics (Week 5)

Objective: Students will learn how to setup and configure pear to pear network, small office
network and straight through and crossover cable crimping techniques
2 SECE Workshop Practice II (Computer Maintenance) 2013

Contents
Inside personal computers and PC maintenance tools ....................................................................... 3
1.1. Main components of a PC................................................................................................... 3
a. Motherboard ..................................................................................................................... 3
b. Central Processing Unit (CPU) ............................................................................................. 6
c. Storage devices .................................................................................................................. 9
d. Random Access Memory (DDR2 SDRAM), DDR3 SDRAM), DDR4 SDRAM)) ........................ 12
e. Power supply ................................................................................................................... 13
1.2. Maintenance Tools ........................................................................................................... 15
a. Hand Tools ....................................................................................................................... 15
b. Using a Multi-meter ......................................................................................................... 15
c. Antistatic wrist strap ........................................................................................................ 16
d. Antistatic bag ................................................................................................................... 17
Lab Activity I ................................................................................................................................ 18
Lab Activity II ............................................................................................................................... 19
Lab Activity III .............................................................................................................................. 20
Lab Activity IV .............................................................................................................................. 21
Lab Activity V ............................................................................................................................... 22
3 SECE Workshop Practice II (Computer Maintenance) 2013

Inside personal computers and PC maintenance tools

1.1. Main components of a PC

a. Motherboard

 Motherboard Architecture
Up until now the Intel system architecture has traditionally consisted of a three
chip solution; processor, memory controller hub (MCH) also known as the
Northbridge chipset, and I/O controller hub (ICH) commonly called the
Southbridge chipset. This CPU-Northbridge-Southbridge arrangement (3 chip
architecture) happily survived many years of upgrading intact. Yet as memory
speeds increased, CPUs gained extra processing cores and video cards grew more
powerful, the interconnection that allowed all these components to communicate
increasingly became swamped with data. The solution Intel implemented was to
move the memory controller from a discreet chipset (Northbridge) directly onto
the processor itself and the rest onto Platform Controller Hub (PCH).

Here are block diagrams to illustrate the differences between legacy Intel
platforms (MCH-ICH) and the current platform CPU-PCH (2-chip architecture)
that underpins the Core i5 processor and Intel P55 Express chipset. The main
difference is that tasks previously handled by the Northbridge chipset are now
rolled into the Core i5 processor proper.
4 SECE Workshop Practice II (Computer Maintenance) 2013

 Form Factor
A motherboard form factor defines the type and location of components on the
motherboard, the power supply that will work with it, and the corresponding PC case that
will accommodate both. There are several motherboard form factors, each with different
layouts, components, and specifications. A motherboard will use only certain CPUs and types
of memory, based on the type of CPU and memory sockets installed. Therefore, if you decide
to build a computer from components, you must ensure that the motherboard, power
supply, CPU, memory, and case will all work together. Personal computer motherboards have
evolved over the past quarter century, and continue to do so. Although motherboards can
vary from manufacturer to manufacturer, Intel Corporation, a major manufacturer, has
developed several form factors over the years, including NLX form factors, and the later ATX
and BTX form factors.

o ATX
ATX stands for Advanced Technology Extended. This technology was designed by Intel to
allow easier expansion. Currently, ATX motherboards are the most popular motherboards.
With most of the components integrated onto the motherboard, there is still sufficient scope
to add additional components. The expansion slots are located at right angles to the
processor and memory, which makes it easier to install full-length adapter cards. Moreover,
the processor and memory are located at the back of the card, in line with the power supply,
which makes better air flow for cooling them. It supports soft power off, meaning that the
system can be turned off using the operating system instead of using the power switch. It
also supports a 3.3 volt power supply from an ATX power supply. The power supply
connector is a single 20-pin connector.
5 SECE Workshop Practice II (Computer Maintenance) 2013

o Micro ATX
The Micro ATX Form Factor uses a smaller footprint than its big brother ATX. The maximum
motherboard size is 9.6" × 9.6". It uses a compact design, which is meant for a lower number
of integrated components, lesser expansion slots, and lesser memory slots. This simply
means that the power supply can be of lower wattage than the standard ATX motherboard
to reduce power consumption. The Micro ATX motherboard can still fit well into a standard
ATX case. To compromise with a lesser number of components, it provides additional USB
ports to connect external devices. Another variation of Micro ATX is the Flex ATX, with the
size of the motherboard reduced to 9.6" × 7.5" (the smallest in the ATX family). Both Micro
ATX and Flex ATX offer limited expandability. ITX (mini-ITX 6.7 × 6.7 in, to Mobile-ITX
2.953 × 1.772 in), designed by VIA, is low-power motherboard form factor, they are
commonly used in small form factor (SFF) computer systems for their low heat production
and small size. Intel recently started to manufacture these standards.

o NLX
New Low-profile eXtended (NLX)was an Intel
standard for motherboards targeted to the low-end
consumer market. It was an attempt to answer the
need for other boards with more components built
in, including both sound and video, while also saving
space and fitting into a smaller case.

o BTX
The BTX Form Factor is the latest in motherboard
designs. The major concern behind this design is the
layout of heat-producing components such as
chipsets, processors, and graphics controllers. This
design specifies that all heat-producing components
can use the primary airflow of the computer thereby
reducing the need for additional cooling fans that
produce more noise. The BTX Form Factor specifies
better placement of components for back panel I/O
controllers. Although it is smaller than the Micro
ATX in size, the BTX design is scalable and can be
taken to the tower-size cases. But now BTX is
replaced back by ATX because most heat producing
components increased their efficiency and reduced
their heat dissipation amount. BTX
6 SECE Workshop Practice II (Computer Maintenance) 2013

b. Central Processing Unit (CPU)

CPU is alternatively referred to as a processor, central processor, or microprocessor, the CPU

was first developed at Intel with the help of Ted Hoff in the early 1970's and is short for
Central Processing Unit. The computer CPU is responsible for handling all instructions it
receives from hardware and software running on the computer.

 Hyper-Threading Technology (HTT)

Hyper-Threading Technology or HT Technology, abbreviated HTT or HT is a
simultaneous multithreading (SMT) implementation used to improve parallelization
of computations (doing multiple tasks at once) performed on PC microprocessors. It
first appeared in February 2002 on Xeon server processors and in November 2002 on
Pentium 4 desktop CPUs.[1] Later, Intel included this technology in Itanium, Atom,
and Core 'i' Series CPUs, among others.

E.g. Core i7 processors have 4 core processors and 8 threads (Two threads per Core)

 Multi-core (Dual core, Triple core, Quad core)

A multi-core processor is a single computing component with two or more
independent actual central processing units (called "cores"), which are the units that
read and execute instructions. The instructions are ordinary CPU instructions such as
add, move data, and branch, but the multiple cores can run multiple instructions at
the same time, increasing overall speed for programs amenable to parallel
computing.
Processors were originally developed with only one core. A dual-core processor has
two cores (e.g. AMD Phenom II X2, Intel Core Duo), a quad-core processor contains
four cores (e.g. AMD Phenom II X4, Intel's quad-core processors (i5, and i7), a hexa-
7 SECE Workshop Practice II (Computer Maintenance) 2013

core processor contains six cores (e.g. AMD Phenom II X6, Intel Core i7 Extreme
Edition 980X), an octo-core processor or octa-core processor contains eight cores
(e.g. Intel Xeon E7-2820, AMD FX-8350), a deca-core processor contains ten cores
(e.g. Intel Xeon E7-2850).

 CPU Cache (L1, L2 L3, ATC)

A CPU cache is a cache used by the central processing unit of a computer to reduce
the average time to access memory. The cache is a smaller, faster memory which
stores copies of the data from the most frequently used main memory locations.
When the processor needs to read from or write to a location in main memory, it
first checks whether a copy of that data is in the cache. If so, the processor
immediately reads from or writes to the cache, which is much faster than reading
from or writing to main memory.

 Overclocking
Overclocking is the process of making the CPU operate faster than the clock
frequency specified by the manufacturer by modifying system parameters (in BIOS)
in order to increase performance. It is also called CPU multiplier.
If you overclock your CPU more than the rate recommended your system may be
unstable which may corrupt your system and opened files.

 CPU Speed (Real (clock speed) versus actual (performance))

Real Speed
A common measurement of processor performance has been clock speed. However,
clock speed can be misleading. For example, the Intel Core 2 Duo (2.93GHz)
processors perform computing tasks much more quickly than the Pentium
D(3.73 GHz), even though the Pentium D runs at a much higher clock speed.
In Core 2 Duo, there are two processor cores operating at 2.93GHz each, this does
not add up to 5.86GHz, doesn’t work that way. The processor still only operates at
2.93GHz but its performance or instruction processing speed doubles.
Actual speed
The actual speed of a CPU is the speed at which it performs under real-world
conditions. This can be affected by other components of your computer system and
the software you are running at any given moment. Software exists that can test
your actual CPU speed, but even that can only tell you at what speed it performs
certain pre-determined tasks.
Bus Speed (Front Side Bus / FSB)
Bus speed is one of the key determining factors of overall CPU performance. The bus
is the device that takes instructions and data between the CPU and the hard drive. If
the bus doesn't run fast enough it will slow down CPU operations.

 32-bit vs. 64 bit CPU

32-bit software cannot access more than 4GB of RAM (in fact, 32-bit Windows
programs can use only 3.25GB of RAM), which makes working with large data files
difficult, as only a portion of a file larger than the maximum memory size can be
loaded into memory at one time.
8 SECE Workshop Practice II (Computer Maintenance) 2013

The Athlon 64 was the first followed by Late-model Pentium 4 processors from Intel
to support 64-bit extensions to the 32-bit x86 architecture. These 64-bit extensions
enable processors to use more than 4GB of RAM and run 64-bit operating systems,
but maintain full compatibility with 32-bit operating systems and applications.
Theoretically 64 bit systems can have a billion times bigger RAM size than 32 bit
systems, but currently there are 64 bit machines supporting up to 128 GB,

 Socket (Slot, PGA, SPGA, LGA)

A CPU socket or CPU slot is a mechanical component(s) that provides mechanical and
electrical connections between a microprocessor and a printed circuit board (PCB). This
allows the CPU to be replaced without soldering.

o Pin Grid Array (PGA) socket type

The processor has pins which makes it

difficult to handle and sometimes the
pins bend or break

o Staggered Pin Grid Array (SPGA) socket type

Processors of this socket type implement pins not

strait lined as PGA but staggered to save some space
for more pins.

o Slot socket type

This socket type is installed like RAM module into

a slot.

o Land Grid Array (LGA) socket type

LGA is a type of surface-mount packaging; Processors

with this socket type implement no pins. Current core
I series use such type of socket type which is also
called pin-less processor.
9 SECE Workshop Practice II (Computer Maintenance) 2013

 Processor Comparison (Recent INTEL processors)

c. Storage devices

 Hard Drives (PATA (IDE), SATA, Solid-state drive)

o Parallel Advanced Technology Attachment (PATA)

These types of drives are also known as Integrated Drive Electronics (IDE) and
Enhanced Integrated Drive Electronics (EIDE) drives. The labels relate to the type
of interface that is employed to connect the disk drive to the CPU board. These
drives utilize either a 40 or a 80 wire cable with a broad 40-pin connector. 40
wire cables are utilized in older and slower hard disks, whereas 80 wire cables
are used in faster ones. Nowadays, these types of hard disks are being
substituted by SATA hard disks. EIDE hard drives were introduced after some
advancement in IDE hard disks, however, the term IDE refers to both IDE and
EIDE disk drives.
10 SECE Workshop Practice II (Computer Maintenance) 2013

o Serial ATA (SATA)

These hard disks use a totally different

connector than their PATA counterparts.
Moreover, they also employ a different power
adapter than IDE ones, though adapters are
easily attainable. The main difference between
a SATA and a PATA hard disk is that the former is
thinner and purportedly have a faster data
interface than the latter. Nevertheless, this
speed dissimilarity is not distinguishable in PATA
and SATA drives which have the same rpm
rating. SATA drives are more efficient, and use
less power than PATA ones.

o Solid State Drives (SSD)

These hard disks, unlike the other types,

don't consist of moving components.
Typical hard drives comprise of a spinning
magnetic disk that performs the function
of data storage, but SSDs use
semiconductors for this purpose. Since
there are no moving components, these
hard disks are much faster and less likely
to break down than other drives.
However, their price is a bit more than
other hard disks.

 Optical devises (CD, DVD, Blu-ray)

o Compact Disk (CD)

A CD is a layer of aluminum foil encased in protective plastic (polycarbonate
substrate), which can also incorporate a label on non playing side. CD-Rs use a layer
of photosensitive dyes instead of premastered layer of foil. The blank disc has a pre-
groove track onto which the data are written and laser is guided, it also contains
timing information, ensures that the recorder follows the same spiral path as a
conventional CD. A CD recorder writes data to a CD-R disc by pulsing its laser to heat
areas of the organic dye layer. The writing process does not produce indentations
(pits); instead, the heat permanently changes the optical properties of the dye,
changing the reflectivity of those areas. Using a low laser power, so as not to further
alter the dye, the disc is read back in the same way as a CD-ROM. The media for CD-
RW has basically the same layers as CD-R media. The reflective layer is, however, a
silver-indium-antimony-tellurium alloy, which has in its original state, a
polycrystalline structure and reflective properties. When writing the laser beam uses
its maximum power (8 - 14 mW) to heat the material to 500–700 °C. This causes
liquefaction of the material. In this state, the alloy loses its polycrystalline structure,
assumes an amorphous state and loses its reflectivity. The lost reflectivity serves the
same function as bumps (pits) on manufactured CDs and the opaque spots on a CD-R
11 SECE Workshop Practice II (Computer Maintenance) 2013

which will be read as a "0". To erase the disc, the write beam heats the amorphous
regions with low power to about 200 °C. The alloy is not melted, but returns to the
polycrystalline state and is thus again reflective. CD drives are rated according to
their data transfer speed. The original drives had a data transfer rate of 150 KBps.
Subsequently, drives have been available that offer multiples of the original rate;
new models have 52x and more transfer rate which is 7 MBps and more.

o Digital Versatile Disk (DVD)

DVD is similar to CD but with
different encoding method, higher
density disks, and shorter
wavelength. DVD disks are also
thinner and can be dual-layer and /
or double side (a DVD with 2 0.6
mm disks sandwiched together.
There 2 standards of DVD (DVD-
R/DVD-RW, DVD+R/DVD+RW) with
slight difference. Maximum
capacity of DVD is 17.1 GB. 1x DVD
uses 1.321 MBps which is 9 times
that of 1x CD.

Double Layer DVD-R

Laser Beam source with

focus change capability

o Blu-ray Disk (BD)

A Blu-ray disk works on fundamental the same principle as DVD but with a shorter
wave length laser (405 nm blue laser compared to DVD’s 650nm red laser); this
means disks can be much higher density; though the cost of components to make
the drives is considerably higher. A standard BD has a capacity of 25 GB per layer.
Currently, only dual-layer standard though quad-layer 100GB disks have been
demoed. There are currently no
double-sided formats. The base
speed for Blu-ray is 36 MBps and
the maximum theoretical rate is
12x (432 MBps) at the time of
writing , most drives are 2x or 4x.
12 SECE Workshop Practice II (Computer Maintenance) 2013

o Comparing CD, DVD and Blu-ray

 Flash Memory devices (USB drive, Memory cards)

 There are many ways of packaging flash memory. One of the most popular is
the USB drive (or “thumb” drive). This type of drive simply plugs in to any
spare USB port. Another popular packaging is the memory card, uses
extensively in consumer digital imaging products.
 Many PCs are fitted with flash memory readers which accommodate most of
the sticks available on the market
 The write speed is about 2/3 of the read speed which is multiple of 150 KBps
with the fastest device working at up to 200x (38MBps)

d. Random Access Memory (DDR2 SDRAM, DDR3 SDRAM, DDR4 SDRAM))

A SDRAM (memory allows stored data to be accessed directly in any random order.
In contrast, other data storage media such as hard disks, CDs, DVDs and tape read
and write data only in a predetermined order, consecutively, because of mechanical
design limitations. Currently DDR3 is widely used and DDR4 will arrive next year in
2014 with 16GB capacity and 3200Mbps data transfer rate. All this RAM variants are
available for portable/mobile PC with different size.
13 SECE Workshop Practice II (Computer Maintenance) 2013

DDR2 SDRAM

DDR3 SDRAM

DDRx means "Double Data Rate" it used both sides of the chip. DDR, DDR2 and DDR3
has more pins on both sides and has faster bus speed compared to their
predecessors. The ‘x’ represents a number (Generation) for instance DDR4 SDRAM is
an abbreviation for double data rate (fourth generation) synchronous dynamic
random-access memory. The easiest way to differentiate among these SDRAMs is to
observe their key notch.

Speed comparison of DDRx RAM

e. Power supply
Power supplies, often referred to as "switching power supplies", use switcher
technology to convert the AC input to lower DC voltages. The typical voltages
supplied are:
3.3 volts, 5 volts, 12 volts
The 3.3- and 5-volts are typically used by digital circuits, while the 12-volt is used to
run motors in disk drives and fans. Over time, there have been at least six different
standard power supplies for personal computers. Recently, the industry has settled
on using ATX-based power supplies. ATX is an industry specification that means the
power supply has the physical characteristics to fit a standard ATX case and the
electrical characteristics to work with an ATX motherboard.
PC power-supply cables use standardized, keyed connectors that make it difficult to
connect the wrong ones. Also, fan manufacturers often use the same connectors as
14 SECE Workshop Practice II (Computer Maintenance) 2013

the power cables for disk drives, allowing a fan to easily obtain the 12 volts it needs
400-watt power supply will not necessarily use more power than a 250-watt supply.
A larger supply may be needed if you use every available slot on the motherboard or
every available drive bay in the personal computer case.
Some power consumption values (in watts) for common items in a personal
computer are:
 Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP) card = 20 to 30W
 Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) card = 5W
 small computer system interface (SCSI) PCI card = 20 to 25W
 network interface card = 4W
 50X CD-ROM drive = 10 to 25W
 RAM = 10W per 128M
 5200 RPM Integrated Drive Electronics (IDE) hard disk drive = 5 to 11W
 7200 RPM IDE hard disk drive = 5-15W
 Motherboard (without CPU or RAM) = 20 to 30W
 550 MHz Pentium III = 30W
 733 MHz Pentium III = 23.5W
 300 MHz Celeron = 18W
 600 MHz Athlon = 45W

Connector pin out for Main ATX

power connector Drive Power Connectors

12v Connector

+5VSB pin 9 (5 Volt StandBy, purple color) is always on even the computer is
powered off, unless you cut off the power supply manually. It is used to supply the
power control circuit when the computer is powered off, so it is not truly off
completely. We can active/wake up this power on signal at any time by some ways
(Mouse/Keyboard/Modem, etc).
15 SECE Workshop Practice II (Computer Maintenance) 2013

1.2. Maintenance Tools

a. Hand Tools

b. Using a Multi-meter
A number of test instruments can be
most helpful in isolating problems. One
of the most basic pieces of electronic
trouble-shooting equipment is the multi-
meter. These test instruments are
available in both analog and digital read-
out form and can be used to directly
measure values of Voltage (V), Current in
milli-amperes (mA) or amperes, and
Resistance, in Ohms (Ω).Therefore, these
devices are referred to as VOMs(Volt-
Ohm-Milli-ammeters) for analog types,
or DMMs(Digital Multi-Meters)for digital
types. This device can also be used to
check diodes, transistors, capacitors,
motor windings, relays, and coils

Digital Multi-meter
16 SECE Workshop Practice II (Computer Maintenance) 2013

In computer and peripheral troubleshooting, fully 99% of the tests made are DC
voltage readings. These measurements most often involve checking the DC side of
the power supply unit. These readings can be made between ground and one of the
expansion slot pins. or at the P8/P9 power supply connectors. It is also common to
check the voltage level across a system-board capacitor to verify that the system is
receiving power. The voltage across most of the capacitors on the system board is
5VDC. The DC voltages that can normally be expected in a PC-compatible system are
+12V, +5V, -5V, and -12V. The actual values for these readings may vary by five
percent in either direction. It is normal practice to first set the meter to its highest
voltage range to make certain that the voltage level being measured does not dam-
age the meter The second most popular test is the resistance, or continuity test.
Unlike the voltage check, resistance checks are always made with power removed
from the system. Failure to turn off the power when resistance checks can cause
serious damage to the meter and pose a potential risk to the user. Resistance checks
also require that the component being tested be electrically isolated from the
system. For most circuit components, this means desoldering at least one end from
the board. One main use of the resistance function is to test fuses. At least one end
of the fuse must be disconnected from the system. The meter should be set on the
1k-ohm resistance setting. If the fuse is good, the meter should read near zero ohms.
If it is bad, the meter reads infinite. The resistance function is also useful in checking
for cables and connectors. If you remove the cable from the system and connect a
meter lead to each end, you can check the cable’s continuity conductor-by-
conductor to verify its integrity. The resistance function is also used to test the
system’s speaker. To check the speaker, simply disconnect the speaker from the
system and connect a meter lead to each end. If the speaker is good, the meter
should read near zero ohms. If the speaker is defective, the resistance reading should
be infinite.

c. Antistatic wrist strap

An antistatic wrist strap, ESD wrist strap, or
ground bracelet is an antistatic device used to
safely ground a person working on very
sensitive electronic equipment, to prevent the
buildup of static electricity on their body, which
can result in electrostatic discharge (ESD). It is
used in the electronics industry by workers
working on electronic devices which can be
damaged by ESD, and also sometimes by people
working around explosives, to prevent electric
sparks which could set off an explosion. It
consists of a stretchy band of fabric with fine conductive fibers woven into it,
attached to a wire with a clip on the end to connect it to a ground conductor
The wrist strap is usually worn on the non dominant hand (the left wrist for a right-
handed person). It is connected to ground through a coiled retractable cable and
1 megohmresistor, which allows high-voltage charges to leak through but prevents a
shock hazard.
17 SECE Workshop Practice II (Computer Maintenance) 2013

d. Antistatic bag
It is a bag used for shipping (usually
electronic) components, which are
prone to damage caused by
electrostatic discharge.
These bags are usually plastic
polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and
have a distinctive color (silvery for
metalized film, pink or black for
polyethylene). To create the anti-static
effect, the black or silver bags are
slightly conductive, forming a Faraday
cage around the item to be protected and preventing any localized charges from
being deposited onto the protected devices as the bags are handled. During
assembling disassembling computer parts, sensitive components shall be placed in
to antistatic bag, or shall be put on covered with low charging material.
18 SECE Workshop Practice II (Computer Maintenance) 2013 INCH

Lab Activity I
1. Prepare a specification for 1 system units provided in the lab (choose from 50 old computers,
WPC01-WPC-50). For components not available in the system unit, specify a compatible one
by your own. You should include at least the following information for each main component
(HD, Optical Drive, RAM, CPU, Motherboard, Power supply, etc).
a. Component name
b. Manufacturer / Brand and Model
c. Specification (size, speed, ratings … whenever appropriate)

2. Identify the Form Factor and architecture of your motherboard; try to Identify North Bridge
(MCH), Southbridge (ICH), super input/output chips or the Platform Controller Hub (PCH) if
available.

3. Use your multi-meter and identify power supply output voltage across each the 3 unique
power connector pinouts. You can switch on the power supply without connecting it to the
motherboard by connecting pin 14 to common.

4. Estimate the power demand of your system (Try to sum up the power demand of individual
components).